strobogo

Sure but the spots didn't make any sense even by multiman ladder match standards, most of them did not go off well (like what the fuck was the Claudio/Andrade spot supposed to be lmao), and the announcers pointing out things not making sense hurt it even more. Matches like that can certainly go off the rails pretty easily, but that one never seemed to be on the tracks to begin with. Also, MJF's intro was so bizarre. Playing the phone call from TK was just...what in the world

I can't say I was into anything on this show, but that suplex power spot in the tag scramble was one of the wildest strength spots I can ever remember.

I hope it's all true because Punk completely imploding within a year over the exact type of shit he did when he was younger is hilarious to me. Just the idea that Punk sat at home for 3 months stewing over that Hangman promo like Punk himself hadn't done the exact same shit dozens of times in every damn company he ever worked for. Every feud Punk has had in the company has had his opponent saying something similar to what Hangman said to him. It's not like the Hangman promo was unusual other than he was a face saying it. I find it pretty difficult to have sympathy for Punk in any situation, because he's an asshole everywhere he's been and gotten himself into these kind of situations. Dude just seems to be one of those that thrives on conflict and then takes no responsibility. I would fucking die if Punk got fired for shoot hitting one of the Young Bucks with a chair.

Wild that SIOG vs The Acclaimed was the match of the night. I'd actually say that was the second best match of the weekend of shows, behind only Walter vs Sheamus. A couple of random thoughts: Wardlow's straight up video game clothesline looks way, way more devastating than any of his powerbombs. The ladder match was a disaster. Might not ever have been a match with so much talent that went so poorly. Punk comes back from his injury with a noticeably bigger upper body, suddenly appears to have developed gyno at the same time. Are steroids straight edge? Really have no idea what the deal with Kip Sabian is. They had him do that box head gimmick for like a year and a half, he didn't take any outside bookings either, and now he looks like Kizzarny and treats the box like Al Snow and Head. The Christian/Jungle Boy thing was real weird to do on a PPV with so much build up. Hobbs/Starks really should have had another 5, maybe even 10 minutes. The Jericho/Bryan match certainly didn't need that much time, and the women's 4 way felt like it was a half hour. I'm really not at all interested in a Punk title run as a face or heel. Mox has had so much more momentum and juice, and while I'm not a big fan of Moxley, he's clearly better for the role of top guy of AEW in 2022 than Punk.

The handling of Drew has been so odd the past 2 years. They had him hold things down in the pandemic era and as soon as they went back to crowds, he decisively lost multiple times to Lashley, lost to Big E, also lost clean to Roman as champ at Survivor Series, then got into a 4 month feud with Corbin, gets back to the title scene and again loses.

The size thing to me is less about the actual size of the talent and more about how they are booked/work. Adam Cole should not be doing Frye/Takayama spots with Luchasaurus or controlling Keith Lee with a headlock for much of the match. Alexa Bliss shouldn't be dominating Nia Jax. On the opposite side, Rey Mysterio shouldn't run through whatever guy a foot taller than him. Which he doesn't, which is part of the reason everyone got over his size 25 years ago, because he works in a way that makes sense for his size. So many talents today will work the same way against every opponent regardless of size and weight differences. And it looks real dumb when it's something like Adam Cole and Luchasaurus trading shots.

I love that Miro consistently refers to the House of Black as "The Pagans".

Thunder Rosa is also a bad promo. Britt Baker got a ton of promo time every week when she went on her big run.

In regards to Don Callis still being with Kenny, seemed clear to me that the segment with Don/Ospreay in the locker room was planting the seeds for Don to turn on Kenny and ride Ospreay's coattails.

Yeah kind of but the first match was more of an angle than a match and definitely gave the whole thing a lot more juice, although this is not something AEW should do on a regular basis. The WWE version would be having a full 15-20 minute TV match the Raw before a PPV, then at the PPV, and then a rematch the next night on Raw.

What is this melodrama

Drew is so boring though. It'd be a real shame to have this legendary reign end to a guy that's already been a 3 time champ that also already had a multi-month feud with Roman in the recent past.

Definitely. I think that's always been the case going back to at least the SNES/Genesis days if not the NES/SMS days.

The folklore is stupid. Without the internet mythology, it just looks like a competitive match where Regal put up more of a fight than most of Goldberg's opponent. There was an early match with Jerry Flynn that was worked pretty much the same way and no one has ever said Jerry Flynn shot on Goldberg.

Ok believe Bill Goldberg could not escape a front headlock from Chris Jericho, as told by Chris Jericho, because Goldberg lolz didn't know how to wrestle

Goldberg had been training BJJ and muay thai for years before WCW. It's absolutely ridiculous to think he'd have no idea how to get out of a fucking headlock.

Personally I'm much more entertained by a sudden burst of chaos 2-3 weeks to fill up a PPV than the 10 weeks of the same segment on repeat until the go home show when some real cool shit happens.

I honestly can't believe Ospreay hasn't blown out both knees since adding all the weight

Excellent. Right call, Mox has had the juice since rehab, crowd sees him as more of an AEW guy than Punk, crowd was into Mox more than Punk, shocking finish. Would lol if Punk actually leaves the company.

God damn what an upgrade

The Jerichoverse is worse than the Codyverse

Feel like there should be a mandatory talent meeting before every show

I think the FTR booking is due to Dax's shoulder injury. There was a month of no in ring stuff from Forbidden Door to DBD, and he's only worked two matches since then, both the same week as DBD and for NJPW Strong.

Jericho is the biggest turn off for me as well, but I watch aew to see cool shit with enthusiastic crowds and announcers (except JR).

Really, that position never seemed like it was something Jeff was going to get tied down to considering all the other hustles and gigs he has going on.